Coinbase Engineer Taps Fruit Fly Brain for Unconventional Crypto Trading Experiment

A Coinbase software engineer has created an unusual experiment that combines neuroscience, cryptocurrency, and algorithmic trading. The project, called Stonkfly, uses a simulated fruit fly brain to make Bitcoin trading decisions. The digital brain is based on the connectome of an adult male fruit fly, with approximately 166,700 neurons and 25.6 million connections.

The system displays a small Bitcoin price chart across the fly's two simulated eyes, processing the chart's raw pixels before producing one of three possible decisions: buy, sell or hold. Profitable trades activate 15 reward neurons, mimicking a dopamine response, while losing positions activate two neurons associated with negative feedback.

Alex Wormuth has cautioned against interpreting the experiment as proof that a simulated brain can become a successful crypto trader. The system cannot use leverage or short Bitcoin and operates with paper money by default, beginning with a virtual balance of $100.